Suggestion Box

Yes, that's pretty high on my to-do list.

Meursault said:

Why does Marvel Scale activation cost upkeep? It makes sense for Reflect since it's consciously being held up by the user, but I've always thought of abilities as being instinctive for the Pokémon...

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Probably just to balance it out I think? Permanent reflect is kinda really strong.

Eifie said:

Can we make the choice items either much cheaper or less shitty? Like who would ever even use a choice item legitimately except to try to Trick onto an opponent (and the opponent could just discard it after a few actions anyway)?

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Do you have suggestions on how to improve their functionality? We can make them cheaper until a better idea comes along...

Hey, so I noticed that Rage is basically the worst move that has ever existed:

The user flies into a towering, irrational rage and strikes wildly at its foe. The enraged Pokémon will only become more so with each damaging attack performed against it while in its rampaging state, and as a result the base power of this attack rises by ten for each damaging attack suffered by the user when this attack is used consecutively. The user will calm down if this attack is not used repeatedly, and any base power gains will be lost.

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While I realise that this is pretty much how it works in the games, it would be so cool if you just got a +1 Attack if you were hit while using this move and kept it when you stopped using Rage. You could use it strategically, like if your opponent's conditionals are tied down really hard and you know you're gonna be hit, you could use Rage (2% power) and gain a +1 Attack!

I feel like this isn't too much of an ask, because tons of pokemon don't get rage (it's basically all of gen 1, and a few from gen 2, 3, and 5). Plus it means that someone might use Rage, like, ever.

ultraviolet said:

While I realise that this is pretty much how it works in the games, it would be so cool if you just got a +1 Attack if you were hit while using this move and kept it when you stopped using Rage. You could use it strategically, like if your opponent's conditionals are tied down really hard and you know you're gonna be hit, you could use Rage (2% power) and gain a +1 Attack!

I feel like this isn't too much of an ask, because tons of pokemon don't get rage (it's basically all of gen 1, and a few from gen 2, 3, and 5). Plus it means that someone might use Rage, like, ever.

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Actually, as of Gen V, Rage just boosts Attack as a whole rather than its own power again. I guess that just hasn't been updated.

I'm not very big on Rage providing boosts that outlast the, well, raging, by a huge margin, but that's more my general opinion of stat boosts than anything specific to Rage.

I'd agree the +1 atk should fade pretty fast.

So yeah, is this tactic a thing? If so, I really feel there should be some way to make it... not objectively superior to just attacking with regular accuracy, because as I mentioned in the last quote there's absolutely no disincentive to just tack some extra free accuracy to every attack you use. Some agreed-upon ballpark figure for the amount of accuracy gained would be useful too.

Sangfroidish said:

So yeah, is this tactic a thing? If so, I really feel there should be some way to make it... not objectively superior to just attacking with regular accuracy, because as I mentioned in the last quote there's absolutely no disincentive to just tack some extra free accuracy to every attack you use. Some agreed-upon ballpark figure for the amount of accuracy gained would be useful too.

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Yeah I've been watching this happen in a bunch of battles and like... I really don't think it should be a thing you're allowed to do unless there's something actually stopping your opponent from moving. If your opponent's doing something that requires a ton of concentration and leaves them unable to move then you could try to take advantage of it, but otherwise I assume the Pokémon would just try to move away on its own because you don't just stand there waiting for an attack to land.

Sangfroidish said:

So yeah, is this tactic a thing? If so, I really feel there should be some way to make it... not objectively superior to just attacking with regular accuracy, because as I mentioned in the last quote there's absolutely no disincentive to just tack some extra free accuracy to every attack you use. Some agreed-upon ballpark figure for the amount of accuracy gained would be useful too.

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Yeah, there's no point in assigning actual numbers to accuracy if you can just command your Pokémon to be more accurate at no penalty. However, if the player finds some unorthodox, amusing way to boost their accuracy, I think that should be rewarded! Personally, I'd like ASB to run not on logic but on creativity.

Yeah, I'm really no fan of it either. I went along with it when pathos commanded it in his battle with uv, but at reduced priority iirc. I'm all for straight up disallowing it under most circumstances, though.

Sangfroidish said:

So yeah, is this tactic a thing? If so, I really feel there should be some way to make it... not objectively superior to just attacking with regular accuracy, because as I mentioned in the last quote there's absolutely no disincentive to just tack some extra free accuracy to every attack you use. Some agreed-upon ballpark figure for the amount of accuracy gained would be useful too.

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Some thoughts:
1) Just because you tell your pokemon to move closer doesn't mean that your pokemon can. The opponent's pokemon will probably instinctually try to move out of the way, or at least be prepared to dodge the incoming attack.

2) I like flavortext and would prefer to award it when I can, just because without flavortext, ASB would just be regular-old Smogon-style competitive battling. So I'd probably allow the attacking-pokemon to trade some energy/attack speed for better accuracy. As for the exact numbers, I'll need to do some math -- it should be something proportional to how much damage the attack will do, and it should also be a rather high cost, just so it's not something everyone ends spamming. Also, unless under extreme circumstances, a low-accuracy move will probably never be increased to 100% accuracy.

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...Does anyone think it'd be helpful if each ref wrote out an article thing about how they personally think about ASB reffing, strategy, and balance?

Even if it doesn't iron out all the reffing disagreements, it seems like it'd at least be useful for reference, either for newbie refs, or for other refs who hasn't thought about a certain topic before and want to see what everyone else thinks?

Crazy Linoone said:

...Does anyone think it'd be helpful if each ref wrote out an article thing about how they personally think about ASB reffing, strategy, and balance?

Even if it doesn't iron out all the reffing disagreements, it seems like it'd at least be useful for reference, either for newbie refs, or for other refs who hasn't thought about a certain topic before and want to see what everyone else thinks?

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I really like this idea! I wouldn't want it to be mandatory or anything; that seems like it would just needlessly increase your workload. But there should be a space for you referees to elaborate on your personal approach to ASB. Something you can update when need be, since you're probably not gonna think of everything at once. But maybe it would be neat to have, like, a ref profile or bio or something where you can write about your stance on various grey-area reffing issues and your general philosophy. I'd totally read that! Plus, it'll give people an idea of what to expect when a particular referee takes on their battles.

Crazy Linoone said:

2) I like flavortext and would prefer to award it when I can, just because without flavortext, ASB would just be regular-old Smogon-style competitive battling. So I'd probably allow the attacking-pokemon to trade some energy/attack speed for better accuracy. As for the exact numbers, I'll need to do some math -- it should be something proportional to how much damage the attack will do, and it should also be a rather high cost, just so it's not something everyone ends spamming. Also, unless under extreme circumstances, a low-accuracy move will probably never be increased to 100% accuracy.

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I agree with this very much - that without flavour ASB would just be smogon battling. (I agree with the rest of the post too but this especially.)

I also like the idea of writing out a ref bio but also I'm lazy ahaha...

People used to write their reffing scales on their ASB profiles, right?

The thought has crossed my mind before, and it looks like other people would be at least interested in the articles, so I'll go ahead and make a thread for them! It could also serve as a general-purpose reffing advice thread, which has been missing so far.

Crazy Linoone said:

Some thoughts:
1) Just because you tell your pokemon to move closer doesn't mean that your pokemon can. The opponent's pokemon will probably instinctually try to move out of the way, or at least be prepared to dodge the incoming attack.

2) I like flavortext and would prefer to award it when I can, just because without flavortext, ASB would just be regular-old Smogon-style competitive battling. So I'd probably allow the attacking-pokemon to trade some energy/attack speed for better accuracy. As for the exact numbers, I'll need to do some math -- it should be something proportional to how much damage the attack will do, and it should also be a rather high cost, just so it's not something everyone ends spamming. Also, unless under extreme circumstances, a low-accuracy move will probably never be increased to 100% accuracy.

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I think if you can like engineer a way to hold your opponent still so you can actually get very close unimpeded, you should definitely be able to get the accuracy increase without penalty because the actual orchestrating of that strategy would probably take multiple actions. If your opponent is specifically not moving because like they're charging up a Focus Punch or a Solarbeam in non-sun or something, you would be able to get up close since they wouldn't be able to move, but you'd also take extra damage from the unleashed attack because you wouldn't have time to get away so you'd be taking it at a very close range. (If your opponent isn't moving because like Rest or something, well, that's still like a strategic use of your moves at this point so I think it's okay.) That seems like a fair trade-off to me.

While we're making new threads, I was talking to Totodile the other day about how it'd be cool to have a thread for arena ideas. Like if you have an arena concept you don't mind other people copying or don't think you'll ever get round to using yourself you can post it for others to use, which would make organising challenges easier for people who struggle with thinking up original arena ideas (much like myself).

Does that need to go through any of the ASB organisers or anything or could I just like... go ahead and post it?

Sangfroidish said:

While we're making new threads, I was talking to Totodile the other day about how it'd be cool to have a thread for arena ideas. Like if you have an arena concept you don't mind other people copying or don't think you'll ever get round to using yourself you can post it for others to use, which would make organising challenges easier for people who struggle with thinking up original arena ideas (much like myself).

Does that need to go through any of the ASB organisers or anything or could I just like... go ahead and post it?

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Nope! Anyone can go ahead and make a Meta thread if they want.

Sangfroidish said:

While we're making new threads, I was talking to Totodile the other day about how it'd be cool to have a thread for arena ideas. Like if you have an arena concept you don't mind other people copying or don't think you'll ever get round to using yourself you can post it for others to use, which would make organising challenges easier for people who struggle with thinking up original arena ideas (much like myself).

Does that need to go through any of the ASB organisers or anything or could I just like... go ahead and post it?

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Totodile mentioned this to us a while ago and people thought it was a neat idea, but we just kind of got... distracted by recent events. Go ahead.

Just piping in to say that the Ref Lounge and arena thread are super cool ideas, and I'll def post in them (eventually, once I get my actual reffings back on track oops)!

And pppsssst Sangfroidish if you haven't started making the arena thread yet, might I suggest making it themed like a vacation agency? Like one of those travel agency offices they have in malls ooooo

...shit i just made it a boring fucking library